Members of the House of Representatives have had TikTok banned from their phones following the passing of a bill that forbids the app from appearing on government devices.
In a memo that was doing the rounds on Twitter this morning, Catherine Szpindor, the chief administrative officer (CAO) of the House, said the China-owned app is at “high risk to users due to a number of security risks.”
The CAO Office of Cybersecurity (CAO) has therefore been authorized to remove the social media service, which is owned by ByteDance, from all House-managed devices. In August the CAO issued a “cyber advisory” labelling TikTok a high-risk app due to its “lack of transparency in how it protects customer data”.
Flagging last week’s Consolidated Appropriations Act as background, Szpindor said house staff are no longer allowed to download the app on House mobile devices and will be contacted to remove if it is found.
Joe Biden’s mega $1.7TN spending bill includes a provision banning TikTok from government devices and will take effect properly when the President signs into law. The move is another demonstration of the ramping up of security concerns between the U.S. and China, coming in the days that China staged a huge incursion in the seas and skies around Taiwan, putting the world on high alert.
TikTok America Head of Public Policy told NBC News the team has been “working with the federal government on a solution that we believe solves any perceived problem with TikTok beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
